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Is the Intellectual Property Court working?

"Legal practitioners are unanimous in their assessment that the ability of SMEs/individuals to gain access to justice has been greatly improved by the reforms;

• The costs cap (recoverable scale up to £50,000) and ACM by judges are clearly identified as the most important reforms;

• Regarding the costs cap, the benefit is that litigants know their potential exposure before initiating a claim; in practice, a costs award of less than £40,000 is commonly awarded to the winning party;

• The SCT is seen as a useful option – particularly for individuals and small enterprises that previously may not have attempted to litigate;

• The damages cap (£500,000) is seen as relatively unimportant (in most cases the interim and/or final injunction is seen as the main goal for litigants);

• The reforms have opened up the IPEC MT to a wider range of representatives – there has been greater participation by patent attorneys and trade mark attorneys, in addition to the continuing presence of solicitors and barristers."

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